A Journey to the Day | The Search for the Perfect Dress

I hardly buy ANYTHING without doing extensive research on it first.

Like. It's very possible someday you may see me in Wal-Mart, researching which type of spaghetti sauce is best. It's that bad.

So I scoffed every time I heard someone say, "when you find the right wedding dress...you'll just know that it's the one." Because it didn't happen that way for me. It took over a week or simi-obsessive research to pick my dress, and it wasn't the one I originally liked best. In fact, it wasn't even one that I was even considering.

Most brides-to-be glow with excitement as they try on dress after dress, so I know that I probably stand alone but.... dress shopping was my least favorite part of the entire wedding experience. It was honestly at the bottom of list of things I valued, and it wasn't where I wanted to invest my time or money. I also had to get it figured out while I was in Rogers with my family for Christmas vacation since our engagement was fairly short and dresses usually take several months to come in.

The first day, we went to a small boutique dress shop. I was massively overwhelmed and had no idea what style I was looking for.... I just knew I wanted sleeves. Of some sort. Maybe. If it looked good. I very quickly, however, figured out what I didn't like. (behold my look of distress. It got better, I promise!)

I came to terms with the fact that I have simple tastes and I feel ridiculous in big, poofy, elaborate dresses. I think they're beautiful on other people, but.... I just felt silly.

The next couple of days, I had a little bit more of an idea of what I was looking for. Sort of. I tried on dress after dress after dress.... until I was totally exhausted and had to go home and think about it. (and think about it some more... :)

(I can't believe I posed some of those pictures on the internet. For everyone to see.)

After much debate, I settled on a dress that wasn't even initially an option. There were no magical fireworks going off in my head as I "said yes to the dress". Just the satisfaction of knowing I made a well-thought-through decision that I would be happy with.
Romantic, I know.

Leave a comment below and tell me about your dress-shopping experience! Did you love it? Dread it? How long did it take you to find "the one"... or did you? I'm curious! =]